Police: Israeli Student Killed in ‘Horrendous Attack’ in Australia

An Israeli woman who was killed in the Australian city of Melbourne had been on the telephone to her sister when she was followed from public transport and attacked close to the university where she was studying, police said on Thursday.

The body of Aiia Maasarwe, 21, was found by passers-by early on Wednesday near La Trobe University’s Bundoora campus in the northeast of Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city. Police described her as an Israeli national.

“This is an horrendous crime that has been inflicted on an innocent member of our community,” Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper told a news briefing on Thursday.

“Our presumption is that this was a random attack and opportunistic,” he said.

It was the second time in seven months that a young woman had been killed on her way home at night in Melbourne, which has an active night life and is popular with overseas university students.

Police said Maasarwe had taken a tram home after an evening out seeing a comedy show. She had been speaking with her sister on the phone at the time of the attack and her sister alerted authorities, Stamper said.

“She heard the sound of the fall, the phone falling to the ground and heard some voices and that was it,” he said.

Family members arrived from Israel on Thursday.

Maasarwe had been in Melbourne on a six-month study abroad program as part of a degree at Shanghai University.

Police said forensic testing was being conducted on two pieces of clothing found nearby that they believe was likely to have been left by the person responsible for her death.

Almost scary to think you are so unwelcome on this planet as the Arab gains footing in any region besides his own. He may ever even notice us in the USA in our cars!

This is distressing and a guess it may be arab or another hate antisemite. Hard worries today. The arab and the antisemite close no doors on their own change and hard hate. Always a threat if we never notice the else.